Kalliope’s Muse> Washington County band has a decidedly literary bent

In Greek mythology, Calliope was the most important of the nine muses and the patron of epic poetry. Her son Linus the musician was believed to be the inventor of melody and rhythm. During these modern times, Kalliope is a six-member band based in Washington County that blends pounding African drumbeats with lilting Celtic melodies, sprinkling them with a few classic rock ‘n’ roll guitar riffs. This eclectic band then proceeds to sing the words of William Shakepeare, Lord Byron and W.H. Auden as if they’d been penned by Bob Dylan, John Lennon or Eddie Van Halen.

The group, whose members range in age from 16 to 41, got together two years ago at the University of Maine at Machias, where five of them are students. They first created music together for several Shakespeare plays put on by the Maine Youth Summer Theatre Festival Institute at the university. Their first CD, titled “Altogether Elsewhere,” was released last summer.

They play at least 10 instruments among them, not including the many varieties of drums, cymbals, xylophones, whistles, wind chimes, saws and washboards listed on the album’s liner notes. By recording industry standards, Kalliope’s music is impossible to define. “The Bull Song” has a rockabilly sound, “Preamble” is New Agey, “All That Departs and Returns” evokes memories of The Doors, and “Swimming” sounds like folk before Dylan went electric.

Band members, who performed recently at Borders Books, Music and Cafe in Bangor, say they like the fact that their music cannot be pigeonholed.

“We don’t put any limit on the style of music we play,” says drummer Tim Bikowski, 25, who is doing his student teaching in social studies at Machias High School. “Our songs include a hint of classical music, but we can also rock out. We don’t fall into any one category.”

A native of Brockton, Mass., Bikowski plays a traditional drum set with extra cymbals and chimes. Kalliope is his third serious band. He looks more like a former football player than a musician, and the drumsticks are dwarfed in his massive hands. But he knows how to create a rhythm that will lift a melody and let it soar.

Tom Boutureira, 20, the group’s percussionist, is majoring in environmental science. He has short, stubby fingers and square palms. His thumbs are calloused where they meet the edge of his congas. He jokes that he has developed such large palm muscles, they look more like cat’s paws than human hands.

“I am a percussionist by mistake,” he says. “I was a traditional kid. I started out on the saxophone and failed, moved on to the flute and failed. Then I tried the guitar and failed. Finally, in Egypt, I sold my guitar for a set of hand drums. I made a real connection with percussion.”

Even though Boutureira, whose family lives in Lawrence, Mass., claims he “failed” to master other musical instruments, he plays the flute and guitar at concerts and on the group’s CD. But it is the music he creates when his “paws” meet the skins stretched across drums of the Third World that drives Kalliope’s unique sound and style.

Jeff Shaw, 21, of Milbridge plays bass, rhythm guitar, dulcimer, glockenspiel and just about anything else with strings. Majoring in music and behavioral science, he is the band’s “quiet one.” His easygoing manner and gentle voice disguise a seriousness that is suddenly revealed when the music begins.

Sixteen-year-old Lauren Rioux lives in East Machias and attends Washington Academy. The young violinist divides her time between the band and the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestra. With Kalliope, she plays a black Zeta electric violin that looks like it was designed by the surrealistic painter Salvador Dali.

“This group is a more giving one than I experience when I play with the youth symphony,” explains Rioux, who has been playing the violin since she was 6. “With the orchestra I only play what’s on the page. With the band I learn while I go along. We jam and can decide whether it really grooves here or there or that doesn’t work at all and start over.”

At 41, Duane Ingalls of Machias is the veteran musician of the group. He’s played with the bands Milo and SPU as well as professionally for theater companies. An adjunct music professor and student at UMM, he plays guitars, melodica and keyboards as well as sings for Kalliope.

“I like the wide range in our ages and background a lot,” he says. “We formed out of a community and now we’ve become a family as well as a business.”

George Skala, 29, is the dark, serious leader of the band. He sings and manages the band. He sets up rehearsal and performance dates, and seeks out bookings for the group. He recently sent their CD to Phish in hopes that Kalliope will be asked to play at the band’s concert in Aroostoock County this summer. An English major who lives in East Machias, Skala finds meeting the needs of a six-member band challenging.

“Scheduling rehearsal time, concerts, work and school for so many of us is difficult,” he says. “But if we set some goals ahead of time, we are able to keep the ball rolling as realistically as we possibly can. We rely on each other’s opinions, share ideas, fight, wrestle, make up and compromise just like every other band.”

Shaw, Ingalls and Skala compose most of the group’s original material. Skala is quick to thank the band’s “extended family” many of whom join the band onstage for portions of concerts. During Kalliope’s appearance at Borders, the band was joined by fellow UMM students Nicholas Wildman on mandolin and Micah Pascucci on harmonicas. The additional instruments added depth to their music, and Pascucci’s personality and exuberant performance style gave band members a jolt of energy.

Lorien Kaminsky of Orono works in the cafe, but came in on her night off to hear the band perform.

“They’re definitely interesting,” she says at intermission. “I like the literary allusions in their songs. They’re very eclectic, and the electric violin is unusual. You don’t see many of those around Bangor.”

Matthew Benedict of Veazie received an announcement of the band’s performance and decided to come see if Kalliope lived up to its “cool postcard.”

“I am really amazed,” he says. “They’re so versatile. Look at all the different instruments they play and they’re all accomplished on each of them. It’s a really unique blending of styles.”

However, Kalliope’s blend of diverse musical styles is not always successful. The band best succeeds when it adds an outside element, whether it is the poetry of Byron (“She Walks in Beauty”), the words of Shakespeare (The Lusty Horn) or other musicians. Otherwise, something — a something that is difficult to define — seems to be missing.

“I have mixed feelings about them,” says Paul Woodfin, publisher of Egg, a music magazine based in Bar Harbor. “They are still gaining momentum, still working to define what they do. I like some of the stuff they’re doing, and some of it doesn’t do much for me. But, I can’t say that I dislike them, either. I’m going to wait and see how they grow.”

Ingalls, a veteran of both music and life, says that what the band most needs is seasoning and more rehearsal time. He is right about that. However, the band also must define its style, then consistently perform with the energy and precision Kalliope shows on its best work.

The band’s coming performances include: 8 p.m. Feb. 28, Moon River Cafe, Dover-Foxcroft; 7 p.m. March 6, Holy Name Parish Hall, Machias; and 7 p.m. March 20, Left Bank Cafe, Blue Hill.